Vigilance urged in light of tactical changes by the developing Spider group within industry circles
Scattered Spider Remains a Persistent Threat in Cybercrime
Scattered Spider, an English-speaking cybercrime group primarily based in the United States and the United Kingdom, has continued its operations despite the arrest of four suspected members. The group, known for its sophisticated social engineering and ransomware tactics, remains a significant threat and has even expanded its collaborations to form a "criminal supergroup" with enhanced capabilities.
The group's modus operandi includes specializing in social engineering tactics such as phishing, vishing (voice phishing), and help desk impersonation to gain initial access into organizations, often bypassing multifactor authentication protections. Scattered Spider has targeted over 15 sectors, including finance, healthcare, aviation, and insurance, with high-profile breaches of companies like Marks & Spencer, Harrods, MGM Resorts, Qantas Airlines, and luxury brands like Cartier and Gucci.
In August 2025, Scattered Spider announced a collaboration with ShinyHunters and Lapsus$, forming a "criminal supergroup" that combines their social engineering strengths with advanced technical exploitation and ransomware-as-a-service offerings. This alliance has targeted major global organizations and claimed 91 victims.
Authorities, including the FBI and CISA, continue to warn about Scattered Spider’s ongoing and growing threat, emphasizing their decentralized structure, recruitment of young English-speaking hackers, and mimicry of corporate structures to evade detection and scale operations. The impact of the recent arrests remains uncertain, as the group’s adaptable nature, combined with new partnerships, suggests they are unlikely to be significantly weakened in the short term.
A coalition of information-sharing groups has urged their members to take additional steps to mitigate potential attacks by Scattered Spider. They recommend developing multichannel verification methods to ensure password resets or other requests are from real employees. Google researchers have reported that Scattered Spider has gone quiet in recent weeks following the arrest of four suspected members, but history suggests that the group may resume activities after a temporary setback.
Scattered Spider's activities have been ongoing across multiple industries and borders, targeting British department store Marks & Spencer, Whole Foods distributor United Natural Foods, and Australian airline Qantas, among others. The threat group is expected to continue finding new ways to evade existing security measures, making it crucial for organizations to remain vigilant and continually monitor their processes and identities for new exploits.
Financial services firms, in particular, must remain diligent as Scattered Spider and other threat actors innovate and scan for new exploits. The resurgence of Scattered Spider following its debut in 2023 indicates a continuous threat to various sectors, and threat groups either affiliated or inspired by Scattered Spider have used similar tactics. The warning from the ISACs came one day after the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a warning about Scattered Spider, underscoring the need for heightened vigilance in the face of this dynamic and dangerous criminal enterprise.
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